Michael Dempsey/The Jersey JournalJersey City firefighter Michael Harris, 49, of Engine Co. 8, had the "N-word" spray-painted on the fence of his home in Manchester Township in Ocean County Seeking quiet, safety, and good schools, Jersey City firefighter Michael Harris moved his wife and their five children into a newly-built home in Manchester Township two years ago.

That idyllic existence got shattered last night.

In what authorities have classified as a bias crime, Harris found the "N-word" spray-painted in large looping letters on his white fence Saturday night.

"I never thought that would ever happen to me and my family," Harris said today, working his shift at Engine Co. 8 on Orient Avenue. "You understand there are racist individuals in the country but you never think it would happen to you."

A resident of the Pine Lake Park section of Manchester -- which is located about 55 miles from Jersey City in Ocean County -- Harris said a concerned neighbor phoned him at about 10 p.m., and told him to take a look at his fence that runs along Commonwealth Boulevard, a main thoroughfare.

That's when Harris, 49, and his wife, Twayla, saw the epithet scrawled in black spray paint.

Harris, a Jersey City firefighter for 15 years, said he was determined to scrub the word off his fence because that's where his children and other children in the neighborhood catch the school bus -- and several neighbors lent a hand.

"We eventually got it off with a tar remover," Harris said. "We tried paint thinner, power washing...But you can see where the letters were so I have to take down that fence."

Township officials confirmed two police sergeants and a detective responded to the scene, as well as the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office, and the incident has been classified as a bias crime. No arrests have been made.

"It bothers the heck out of me," Manchester Mayor Mike Fressola said today upon learning about the crime. "We have had no problems along those lines in Manchester."

Manchester has a population of roughly 42,000, of which 94 percent is white and roughly 3 percent is African American.

Harris, who said his van and truck has been egged in the past, said he's determined to stay put.

"I'm not moving. I'm not going anywhere," Harris said. "The cops are very good there. The people have treated me very nice there."